It was a great notion at its inception and it proved itself live on stage. Twice. So, what's left for a Melting Pot show to do? Another one, of course, and so it will be at 8:30 p.m. Friday as Melting Pot 3 returns to the Blue Moon Saloon.

The concept works like this: Four local bands from different genres of music submit three songs to the man behind this absolutely cool concept, Ryan Cazares. He divvies them up and passes them on to each band that will rehearse and then put their take on the songs from the point of view of their genre.

And once the bands are finished with each one of the other bands' submitted songs, they continue the set with their own material.

"All I basically do is I tell each band send me three songs that you want to hear interpreted by the other bands. And then I pick and choose from there," Cazares said.

Do know it's not an eenie-meenie-miney-mo process, either.

"I'll listen to them and which band do I think could interpret this song the best and then I'll send it to that band," said Cazares, who fronts Sour Sedans. "It just makes it a faster, easier process that way."

Bands this year are Sour Sedans (rock), Michael Juan Nunez and the American Electric (blues), Sweet Cecilia (folk/Cajun), and Rayo Brothers (bluegrass.)

"We tried it out last year a couple of times and it was so much fun and it brought together four different bands and we all stayed in contact since then," said Cazares. "We figured we'd try to keep it going because the musicians really, really enjoy it and the fans enjoy it, too.

"We're going to try to keep it going because it's a lot of fun," he said.

And that fun goes for musicians and music lovers.

"The musicians just absolutely love hearing their songs covered and interpreted by another band," said Cazares, adding, "I also like that it encourages the bands and the fans to share original music. That's another big part of it.

"It just increases camaraderie between local bands and their fans as well," he said.

For example, Cazares said: "Rayo Brothers fans may have never seen Michael Juan Nunez and then they might like him; and his fans might like Sweet Cecilia and our fans might like one of the other bands. So it works out pretty awesome."

Cazares does his homework for Melting Pot.

"I watch a lot of shows and I list a lot of my favorite local bands and just kind pick and choose from there," he said. "And see if they're up for it."

And now that the Melting Pot concept is catching on "it's seems to be a little easier to find bands that want to do it," he said, noting that in the early going, it seemed like more work for bands. "Now that it's more established, these bands are more willing to participate."

Melting Pot is unlike ordinary open mic nights and such when the songs performed are usually well-known covers.

"It's really cool to showcase the original local music," Cazares said.

Dominick Cross is the entertainment writer for the Times of Acadiana and Daily Advertiser. Contact him at dcross@theadvertiser.com.